In Response to Children’s Literature, Fourth-Grade Students Interview A Vietnam War Veteran Through Distance Learning

Authors

• Danielle L. DeFauw, University of Michigan - DearbornFollow
• Gordon Bourland, Macomb Intermediate School DistrictFollow

Keywords

student–author interview, reader-response theory, digital media and learning, children’s literature, interest, motivation

Abstract

This study explores virtual, student–author interviews fourth-grade students led with Vietnam Veteran, [VETERAN] in response to the following three picture books: Eve Bunting’s (1992) The Wall, Walter Dean Myer’s (2005) Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam, and Jeanne Walker Harvey’s (2017) Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines. The opportunity to interview a Vietnam veteran motivated students to read the picture books, craft questions for [VETERAN], and engage in the interview process. Ultimately, this article supports reader-response pedagogy to include virtual or in-person student–specialist interviews with guest speakers to motivate literacy engagement.

Recommended Citation

DeFauw, Danielle L. and Bourland, Gordon (2026) "In Response to Children’s Literature, Fourth-Grade Students Interview A Vietnam War Veteran Through Distance Learning," The Great Lakes Social Studies Journal: Vol. 6: Iss. 1, Article 8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25035/glssj.06.01.08
Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/glssj/vol6/iss1/8

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.25035/glssj.06.01.08